Hen&#39;s nest.



PATENTED MAR. 10, 1908. L. S. LINDER.

HENS NEST.

\APPLIOATION FILED 00T.12, 1906.

2 SHEBTSSHBET 1.

MAW.

No. 881,250. PATENTED MAR. 10, 1908. a L. s. LINDBR.

' HENS NEST.

APPLICATION FILED 001212, 1906.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LEOPOLD S. LINDER, OF MANKATO, MINNESOTA.

HENS NE ST.

Application filed. October 12, 1906. Serial No. 338,558.

of parts hereinafter described and claimed In the accompanying drawingsforming partof this specification, Figure 1 is a perspective view of theoutside of a nest-box fitted with my improvements, showing the doorswung inw ards. Fig. 2 is a vertical section of the same on line 0cac ofFig. 3, showing the door swung out; Fig. 3 is a vertical section on lineyy of Fig. 2; Figs. 4 and 5 are details of the swinging door and tiltingboard, partly broken away; Fig. 6 is a plan view of the nest frame, andFigs. 7 and 8 are details of the stop mechanism for the sack carrier.

As shown in the drawings, A is a nest box having a front opening 2 fromthe top wall of which is pivotally hung a door 3 which is free to swingin or out. This door is formed with an entrance opening 4 just largeenough for a hen to squeeze through.

Secured to the door just above the opening, and preferably a little toone side, is a frame 5 within which are rotatably mounted a pair ofrollers 6 and 7 upon which is wound an impression receiving strip havinga surface whichwill preserve the impression of a marker carried by thehen.

To prevent more than one hen from entering the nest box at a time, atilting board 13 is pivotally supported at the bottom of the opening 2,the point of pivotal support 14 being midway of its length. At each endof the board is an arm 15 hinged to the board so as to swing outwardlyonly, that is, away from the other arm. The arms are held normally inupright position by means of springs 16, and are of such height that,when in uptilted position, they will be engaged by the .door as itswings from the other end of the board and be turned down upon theirhinges, as shown in Fig. 4, thus permitting the door to pass them. Themoment the door has Specification of Letters Patent.

registering with it.

Patented March 10, 1908.

swung past them, the arms will spring back to upright position, as shownin Fig. 5, intercepting the door in its return swing and holding it ininswung or outswung position, as the case may be. K

Secured to the end of the tilting board within the boxis a tiltingnest-frame C, having, preferably, a pair of guard rails 17 extendingfrom the bottom of thenest-frame up to the tilting board, and a runway18 arranged below the guard rails and extending from the frame-bottomrearwardly to a point below the end of the tilting board. -The guardrails are a sufficient distance apart to permit an egg to pass betweenthem along the runway below, when the nest-frame is tilted up as shownin Fig. 5. When in downtilted position, as shown in Fig. 2, the framewill rest upon an ordinary nest 19 of straw, or other appropriatematerial.

Arranged in a vertical plane within the box and near its front wall is atrack or guide, consisting preferably of a pair of parallel rods orwires 20, as shown in the drawings, extending from the upper part of thebox around under the tilting board and up again as shown in Figs. 2 and3. Runningly supported upon the track are a number of sackholdersconsisting, preferably, of bars 21, upon which are supported sacks 23 ofcloth or other flexible material in position to pass close to, andslightly below the free inner end of the runway 18, so that the eggswill be discharged from the runway into the sack then To insure the moreperfect discharge of the eggs and avoid interference between the runwayand the sack I prefer to bridge the space between them by an open endedflexible band 24 looped down from the tilting board around the end ofthe runway.

In the form shown in the drawings the sack holders are flexiblyconnected together by means of the sacks themselves, the material ofeach sack being secured to the bar between it and the adjacent sack,'andbeing folded over the adjacent track wire. They are held under tension,and, when free to move, are carried along the track, by means of aweight 25 connected with the end sack-holder by means of a rope 26passing over a pulley 27. Eaoh'sack is halted and stopped, when inposition to register with the runway and receive an egg, by means ofappropriate stop mechanism actuated by the movement of the tilting boardwhen the hen leaves the nest-box.

This mechanism consists, preferably, of a lever 28 pivoted at 29 uponthe inner side of the front wall of the box below the track wires 20 andheld by a spring 30 normally in position to project up between thesack-holding bars 21. Upon the upper end of the lever is a lateral armor lug 31 in position to be engaged and depressed by a stop 32 securedto the tilting board upon the nest side of its supporting pivot. Thestop is of such length that it will be plunged down between the sackholding bars 21 and engage the lever arm31, as shown inFig. 2, when thenest end of the board is in down-tilted position, and be raised abovethe bars when the nest end of the board is tilted up. Thus, when theboard is tilted down, as shown in Fig. 2, the stop will be plunged downbetween two of the bars 21, and will depress the outer end of the lever28. The rearward of the two bars between'which the stop now stands willstrike thestop'and be held by it in position where one of the sacks willstand in alinement with the runway 18 ready to receive an egg. When thenest-end of the tilting board is raised, the stop will be drawn up frombetween the sack-holding bars and permit the weight to move thesack-holders along the track. But, as the stop is raised, it willrelieve the lever 28 from downward pressure, and'permit the lever tofollow it up under aetuation of its spring 30. As the stop 32 engagesthearm 31 a little distance forwardly fromthe lever, the lever will permitthe sack alining with the runway to be drawn along, but will interceptand hold the next succeeding sack holder. When the board is again tilteddown within the nest, the stop will again depress the lever and releasethe intercepted sackholder, which will be drawn along until it isintercepted by the stop and held in position where its sack will alinewith the runway. will step upon the now downtilted end of the tiltingboard outside the box and will force her way through the opening 4. Asthe hen passes in, the marking device carried by her will engage theimpression receiving strip upon the roller 6 and draw it along to exposea fresh surface, leaving upon the strip the impression of thedistinctive symbol carried by her marking device. As she enters the boxand walks along the tilting board within it, her weight will tilt downthe board and nest-frame, the stop 32 at the same time de pressing thelever 28 to permit the sack in tercepted by it to move into line withthe runway where it is held by the stop. At the same time the door 3,released from its inswung position by the descent of the inner end ofthe board and its intercepting arm 15, will swing outwardly past the armupon the outer end of the board, the arm yielding upon its hinge topermit it, and back against the outside'of the arm, which will hold thedoor In entering the nest box the hen-- in outs'wung position as shownin Fig. 2. After entering the nest-frame and laying her egg, the henwill step back upon the board and pass out through the door. As shewalks along the board after passing its point I of pivotal support, herweight will tilt down the outer end of the board and cause the inner endto be tilted up. By the descent of the outer arm 15 the door will bereleased from the arm and will swing back into the in swung positionshown in Fig. 1 and by the rise of the inner end of the board thenestframe will be tilted up so that the egg just laid will slide downthe runway and drop into the sack alining with it. The stop 32 will atthe same time be raised out of engagement with the saekholder to permitit to be moved on as already described. The stop must be of such lengththat it will not clear the sack-holder until after the egg has beendischarged into the sack.

It will be observed that after a hen has cntered the box and the doorhas swung out into the position shown in Fig. 2 no other hen can enteruntil the first hen emerges.

To identify the eggs laid by a particular hen it is only necessary toeompare the order in which that hens symbol appears upon the markingroll with the sack correspolnling in order. Thus, if the roll shows thathen hearing the symbol 4 was the 6th hen to enter the nest, her egg willbe found in the sixth. sack, assuming the sacks to have been startedwith the first sack in position to reeeive the first laid egg. And,conversely, the egg in the sixth sack can be identified as laid by thehen bearing the symbol which appears sixth in order upon the roll.

The tilting board is, of course, so construeted that its outer portionwill just balance its inner portion with attached nest frame. By theterm nest frame is meant any instrumentality forming or having a runwayfor the eggs.

It will be evident that various modifications may be made in the detailsof the structure without departing from the principle of the invention,the scope of which is defined in the claims.

I claim:

1. In a hens nest of the class described, in combination, a tiltingboard, a nest frame secured to one end of the board and having adischarge runway for eggs, a plurality of sacks arranged to be carriedpast the discharge end of the runway, a chute bridging the space betweenthe discharge end of the runway and the sacks, and means controlled bythe tilting board for bringing the sacks successively into alinementwith the runway.

2. In a hens nest of the class described, the combination, with anest-box having an opening, of an apertured door hung from the top ofthe opening so as to swing in or out, and a tilting board having centralpivotal support at the bottom of the opening, the door being ofsufficient length to engage, and be intercepted by, the uptilted end ofthe tilting board.

3. In a hens nest of the class described, the combination, with a nestframe having a laterally extending runway for eggs, of a plurality ofsacks arranged to be carried past the outer end of the runway inposition to receive an egg therefrom, and means controlled by the travelof a hen toand from the nest frame for imparting to the sacks a step bystep movement.

4. In a hens nest of the class described, the combination, with atilting nest-frame having a discharge runway for eggs, of a plurality ofsacks arranged to be carried past the discharge end of the runway, meansactuated by a departing hen for tilting the nest-frame and meanscontrolled by the travel of the hen for imparting to the sacks a step bystep motion.

5. In a hens nest of the class described, in combination, a tiltingboard, a nest frame secured to one end of the board and formed with arunway for eggs, a plurality of spaced sacks runningly supported in avertical plane about the end of the runway, and means controlled by thetilting board for bringing the sacks in succession into registrationwith the runway.

6. In a hens nest of the class described, in combination, a tiltingboard, a nest frame socured to one end of the board and formed withdischarge runway for eggs, a track extending down under the tiltingboard and up again, a plurality of spaced Zsack holders runninglysupported upon the track, sacks carried by the sack-holders in positionto pass the end of the runway and receive eggs therefrom, and meanscontrolled by the tilting board for moving the sacks successively intoregistration with the runway.

7. In a hens nest of the class described, in combination, a nest boxformed with an opening, a tilting board arranged in the opening, anest-frame secured to the inner end of the board and formed with arunway for eggs, a plurality of runningly supported flexible sac-ksarranged to be carried past the discharge end of the runway, means forex' erting upon the sacks a constant pull, and means controlled by thetilting board for holding the sacks in succession in position toregister with the runway and receive an egg therefrom.

8. The combination, with a nest-box having an opening, of an apertureddoor hung from the top of the opening so as to swing in or out, atilting board pivotally mounted midway of its length at the bottom ofthe opening, a hinged arm at each end of the board, the arms being sohinged asto swing away from each other only, and springs to hold thearms in upraised position, the door being of sufficient length to swingagainst the arm of the uptilted end of the board.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

LEOPOLD S. LIN DER.

Witnesses:

D. G. WILLARD,

GEo. B. OWEN.

